Geneimprint

Durham, NC: The 'early origins hypothesis' of Barker states that environmental factors, such as nutrition acting in early life, program the risks for adverse health outcomes in adult life. This hypothesis is now supported by a number of epidemiological studies performed worldwide. Environmental perturbations during gestation are also known to affect adult phenotype by altering gene expression through the modification of DNA methylation and chromatin structure. The objective of this conference is to discuss the evidence that genomic elements, such as transposons and imprinted genes, can function as epigenetically labile targets for linking environmental exposures during early development to adult susceptibility of developing medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, behavioral disorders, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Attendee Presentations

"Can the Presence of Methylation of the Retinonic Acid Receptor-beta2 P2 Promoter in Random Periareolar Fine Needle Aspiration be Used to Risk-stratify Women at Risk for Breast Cancer?"Abstract / Video